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tions of the power of God, like his mercies, are "new ĕvèry morning," and fresh every moment.

9. We see as fine risings of the sun as ever Adam saw; and its risings are as much a miracle now as they were in his day, and I think a good deal mōre, because it is now a part of the miracle, that for thousands and thousands of years he has come to his appointed time, without the variation of a millionth part of a second. Adam could not tell how this might be.

10. I know the morning-I am acquainted with it, and I love it. I love it fresh and sweet as it is a daily new creation, breaking forth and calling all that have life and breath and being to new adoration, new enjoymènts, and new gratitude. DANIEL WEBSTER.

III.

95. MORNING.

had occasion, ă few weeks since, to take the early train from

I providence to Boston, and for this purpose rose at two

o'clock in the morning. Every thing around was wrapped in darkness and hushed in silence, broken only by what seemed at that hour the unearthly clank and rush of the train.

2. It was a mild, serene, midsummer's night; the sky was without a cloud; the winds were whist. The moon, then in the last quarter, had just risen, and the stars shōne with a spectral luster but little affected by her presence.

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3. Jupiter,' two hours high, was the herald' of the day; the Pleiades, just above the horizon, shed their sweet influence in the east; Lyra' sparkled near the zenith; Andromeda' veiled her newly-discovered glories from the naked eye in the south; the steady Pointers far beneath the pole, looked meekly up from the depths of the north to their sovereign.

1Ju pi ter, one of the planets, or heavenly bodies which revolve around the sun, the largest, and, next to Venus, the brightest.

containing a white one of the first magnitude.

'An drom' e da, a northern group of stars, supposed to represent the

2 Herald, a proclaimer; a har- figure of a woman chained. binger; a forerunner.

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Pointers, (paint' erz), two stars 'Pleiades, (plè' ya dèz), a group in the group called the Great Bear, of seven small stars. the line between which points nearly

4 Ly'ra, a northern group of stars, to the North Star.

4. Such was the glorious spectacle' as I entered the train. As we proceeded, the timid approach of twilight became mōre perceptible; the intense blue of the sky began to soften; the smaller stars, like little children, went first to rest; the sisterbeams of the Pleiades soon melted together; but the bright constellations of the west and north remained unchanged.

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5. Steadily the wondrous transfiguration went on. Hands of angels, hidden from mortal eyes, shifted the scenery of the heavens; the glories of night dissolved into the glories of the dawn. The blue sky now turned more softly gray; the great watch-stars shut up their holy eyes; the east began to kindle.

6.. Faint streaks of purple soon blushed along the sky; the whole celestial' concave' was filled with the inflowing tides of the morning light, which came pouring down from above in one great ocean of radiance: till at length, as we reached the Blue Hills, a flash of purple fire blazed out from above the horizon, and turned the dewy tear-drops of flower and leaf into rubies and diamonds. In a few seconds, the everlasting gates of the morning were thrown wide open, and the lord of day, arrayed in glōries too severe for the gaze of man, began his

course.

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7. I do not wonder at the superstition of the ancient Magians, who in the morning of the world went up to the hill-tops of Central Asia,' and, ignorant of the true God, adored the most glorious work of his hand. But I am filled with amazement, when I am told that in this enlightened age, and in the heart of the Christian world, there are persons who can witness this daily manifestation of the power and wisdom of the Creator, and yet say in their hearts, "There is no God."

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BEAU

IV.

96. THE SENSE OF BEAUTY.

EAUTY is an all-pervading presence. It unfolds in the numberless flowers of the spring. It waves in the branches of the trees and the green blades of grass. It haunts the depths of the earth and sea, and gleams out in the hues of the shell and the precious stone.

2. And not only these minute objects, but the ocean, the mountains, the clouds, the heavens, the stars, the rising and setting sun, all overflow with beauty. The universe is its temple; and those men who are ǎlive to it, can not lift their eyes without feeling themselves encompassed with it on every side.

3. Now this beauty is so precious, the enjoymènts it gives are so refined and pure, so congenial' with our tenderèst and noblèst feelings, and so akin to worship, that it is painful to think of the multitude of men as living in the midst of it, and living almost as blind to it, as if, instead of this fair earth and glorious sky, they were tenants of a dungeon. An infinite' joy is lost to the world by the want of culture of this spiritual endowment.

4. Suppose that I were to visit ă cottage, and to see its walls lined with the choicèst pictures of Raphaël, and every spare nook3 filled with statues of the most ex'quisite workmanship, and that I were to learn that neither man, woman, nor child ever cast an eye at these miracles of art, how should I feel their privation; how should I want to open their eyes, and to help them to comprehend and feel the loveliness and grandeur which in vain courted their notice!

5. But every husbandman is living in sight of the works of a divine Artist; and how much would his existence be elevated, could he see the glory which shines forth in their forms, hues, proportions, and moral expression! I have spoken only of the beauty of nature, but how much of this mysterious charm is found in the elegant arts, and especially in literature?

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6. The best books have most beauty. The greatèst truths

Congenial, (kon je ni al), partaking of the same nature or feeling; related by natural points of character. 2 In' fi nite, without limit or

bounds; perfect; very great.

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Nook, (nôk), a narrow place between bodies; a corner; a recess; a retired place.

are wronged if not linked with beauty, and they win their way most surely and deeply into the soul when arrayed in this their natural and fit attire.

7. Now no man receives the true culture of ă man, in whom the sensibility to the beautiful is not cherished; and I know of no condition in life from which it should be excluded. Of all luxuries this is the cheapest and most at hand; and it seems to me to be most important to those conditions, where coarse labor tends to give a grossnèss to the mind.

8. From the diffusion of the sense of beauty in ancient Greece, and of the taste for music in modern Germany, we learn that the people at large may partake of refined gratifications, which have hitherto been thought to be necessarily restricted to a few. W. E. CHANNING.

V.

97. FLOWERS.

T is a matter of gratitude that this finest gift of Providence is the most profusely' given. Flowers can not be monopolized. The poor can have them as much as the rich.

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2. It does not require such an education to love and appreciate them, as it would to admire a picture of Turner's, or a statue of Thorwaldsen's. And, as they are messengers of affection, tokens of remembrance, and presents of beauty, of universal acceptance, it is pleasant to think that all men rec'ognize a brief brotherhood in them.

3. It is not impertinent to offer flowers to ă stränger. The poorest child can proffer them to the richèst. A hundred persons turned together into a meadow full of flowers would be drawn together in a transient brotherhood.

4. It is affecting to see how serviceable flowers often are to the necessities of the poor. If they bring their little floral gift you, it can not but touch your heart to think that their grateful affection lõnged to express itself as much as yours.

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5. You have books, or gems, or services, that you can render as you will. The poor can give but little, and do but little.

1 Pro fuse ly, in a lavish manner. 2 Turner, a distinguished English painter, born 1775, died 1851.

Thorwaldsen, (tår` wåld' sen), a celebrated Danish sculptor, born 1770, died 1844.

Were it not for flowers, they would be shut out from those exquisite pleasures which spring from such gifts. I never take one from a child, or from the poor, that I do not thank God in their behalf for flowers!

6. And then, when Death enters a poor man's house! It may be, the child was the only creature that loved the unbefriended father-really loved him; loved him utterly. Or, it may be, it is an only son, and his mother a widow-who, in all his sickness, felt the limitation' of her poverty for her darling's sake as she never had for her own; and did what she could, but not what she would, had there been wealth.

7. The coffin is pine. The undertaker2 sold it with a jerk of indifference and haste, lest he should lose the selling of a rosewood coffin, trimmed with splendid silver screws. The room is small. The attendant neighbors are few. The shroud is coarse.

8. Oh! the darling child was fit for whatever was most excellènt, and the heart aches to do for him whatever could be done that should speak love. It takes money for fine linen; money for costly sep'ulture. But flowers, thank God, the poorest may have. So, put white buds in the hair-and honey-dew, and mignonette, and half-blown roses, on the breast.

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9. If it be spring, a few white viölets will do; and there is not a month till November that will not give you something. But if it is winter, and you have no single pot of roses, then I fear your darling must be buried without a flower; for flowers cost money in the winter!

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10. And then, if you can not give ǎ stone to mark his burialplace, a rose may stand there; and from it you may, ĕvèry spring, pluck a bud for your bosom, as the child was broken off from you. And if it brings tears for the past, you will not see the flowers fade and come again, and fade and come again, year by year, and not learn a lesson of the resurrection-when that which perished here shall revive again, never more to droop or to die.

'Lim`it a' tion, the condition of being limited, restricted, or confined. 2 Un`der tak' er, one who undertakes, or engages in any business; especially, one who takes the charge and management of funerals.

HENRY WARD BEECHER.

3 Sěpul tūre, the act of placing the body of a human being in the grave; burial.

'Mignonette, (min yo not'), a plant and flower prized for its sweet smell "Bosom, (bůz′ um).

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